February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
What’s New The latest books, CDs and videos
BOLD
Catriona Macdonald
On this album, Macdonald, a fiddle player from the great Shetland Isles tradition, offers a wealth of original musical ideas while firmly holding on to the past. Among the 10 tracks on this collection, the aires, reels and jigs attest to her mastery of the famed Shetland style. Accompanying her are bassist Conrad Ivitsky, pianist David Milligan, percussionist James Mackintosh, church organist Iver Kleive, piano accordionist Ian Lowthian and guitarist Tony McManus. From Compass Records, Nashville, Tenn. For details, log onto http://www.compassrecords.com.
LOST LIVES
David McKittrick, Seamus Kelters,
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Brian Feeney and Chris Thornton
Four top Northern Ireland journalists and commentators have combined to produce a rare kind of book, one that delivers the stories of all the men, women and children who have died as a result of the recent troubles in Northern Ireland. Given that most people who die in wars around the world do so anonymously, this book is indeed a groundbreaking work that will remind the reader just what the consequences of conflict can ultimately mean — lives lost and the lives of those who survive the dead forever changed. Mainstream Publishing. Distributed in the U.S. by Trafalgar Square, North Pomfret, VT 05053. 1,600 pp. $60.
THE FAMILY BUSINESS
Adrian Kenny
The details of a bohemian Dublin social life in the 1970s form the core of this autobiographical work by Dublin-born Adrian Kenny. The writing is spare, sharp and fast-paced and there is a sense of the present to events now years in the past. Kenny, an English teacher, has four previous books to his credit. Lilliput Press. Distributed in the U.S. by Dufour Editions, Chester Springs PA 19425. 222 pp. $15.95.
The Irish Mob, The FBI,
And A Devil’s Deal
Dick Lehr & Gerard O’Neill
Lehr and O’Neill are both writers for the Boston Globe and in "Black Mass" they deliver an Irish American tale that could probably only unfold in Boston. It’s the story of James "Whitey" Bulger, one of the FBI’s 10 most wanted men, and an FBI agent, John Connolly. Bulger and Connolly grew up together but ended up on either side of the law. But only for a time. "Black Mass" is a true story of the ties that bind regardless of the law, be it human law or God’s law. PublicAffairs Publishers. 304 pp. $26.